Criminal Justice News

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Former Maryland Division of Corrections Lieutenant Sentenced for Obstruction of Justice

Edwin Stigile III, formerly a lieutenant at the Roxbury Correctional
Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced today by U.S.
District Court Judge James K. Bredar to serve 36 months in prison for
obstruction of justice in connection with his involvement in a series of
assaults against an inmate, Kenneth Davis, at RCI.

On Jan. 9, 2014, Stigile pleaded guilty to a charge of destruction of
records. According to court documents filed in connection with his
guilty plea, Stigile acknowledged that he intentionally used a magnetic
device to erase incriminating surveillance video footage related to the
RCI officers’ assaults of Davis. RCI officers from three different
shifts assaulted Davis in March 2008, in retaliation for a prior
incident in which Davis struck an officer. Stigile also instructed an
officer to hide the magnetic device after the surveillance footage was
destroyed. In September 2012, Stigile made false and misleading
statements to federal authorities and a federal grand jury in an attempt
to obstruct the federal investigation related to the assaults.

“The defendant participated in the cover-up of the assaults suffered by
Mr. Davis, and then he lied to cover up this crime,” said Acting
Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights
Division. “The defendant’s actions run completely counter to the
responsibilities and trust given to a supervisor at a correctional
facility. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute
those officers who, like this defendant, try to cover up the misconduct
of other officers.”

To date, 16
current or former officers at RCI were convicted in connection with the
series of assaults that Davis suffered on March 8 through 9, 2008. One
former officer still awaits sentencing.

The case was investigated by the Frederick Resident Agency of the FBI,
and prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial
Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division, with the assistance
of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham for the District of
Maryland.